Trump on Kim Jong Un: 'We fell in love after handsome letters'

The comments came at a political rally in West Virginia, where he's stumping for Patrick Morrisey, the GOP candidate hoping to unseat Sen. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Ri in NY and accepted the North Korean leader's invitation to visit Pyongyang, the State Department said.

While Mr Ri reprised familiar North Korean complaints about Washington's resistance to a "phased" approach to denuclearisation under which North Korea would be rewarded as it took gradual steps, his statement appeared significant in that it did not completely reject unilateral denuclearisation as Pyongyang has done in the past. "And then we fell in love".

It's the second time this week the US President has gone out of his way to praise the leader he referred to as "rocket man" on a "suicide mission" little more than a year ago.

Ri said it was a "pipe dream" that continued sanctions and United States objection to a declaration to formally end the Korean war would ever bring the North to its knees. "We were going to war with North Korea".

He added: "President Trump has made abundantly clear that if Chairman Kim follows through on his commitments, a much brighter future lies ahead for North Korea and its people, and the United States will be at the forefront of facilitating that bright future". How frightful is that? "It's so easy to be presidential".

Mr. Trump again called Ms. Warren "Pocahontas", reprising his nickname based on her previous unsubstantiated claims of Native American heritage, and said the Democratic Party has grown so liberal it's even outflanked the famously left-wing crusader.

Three senior United States officials involved in North Korea policy said last week that no progress has been made in moving towards serious negotiations on eliminating or even halting Mr Kim's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

By contrast, Trump in his remarks to the assembly on Tuesday, thanked Kim "for his courage and for the steps he has taken".

However, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the UN Security Council on Thursday that "enforcement of Security Council sanctions must continue vigorously and without fail until we realise the fully, final, verified denuclearisation".